By DUNCAN SCOTT 01/10/2010
A round up of the latest major economic news and developments from the last week.
Labour announce new leadership
This week saw the arrival of Edward Milliband as Labour party leader, beating off his brother by under 2% of the vote. He has been keen to paint himself (and Labour) as “Optimistic” in the background of the Con-Dem coalitions perceived pessimism. Despite this, and despite the fact that his appointment owed a lot to the support of the Trade Unions, he still maintained that cuts were and are necessary for dealing with the enormous budget deficit. Treading the fine line of the dichotomy between pessimism and optimism has led to a reaction which has been broadly positive, though he will not have the support of his brother in his shadow cabinet.
US indicator data released
according to data release today, incomes in the US rose by the largest amount this year in August. The rise of 0.5% was mainly due to the extension of unemployment benefits. This leading indicator has been accompanied by similar positive consumer purchasing figures, up 0.4% exceeding the 0.3% predicted. All of this means the odds of the U.S. slipping into a double-dip recession have receded. A survey of leading economists by Bloomberg found a 20% chance of this happening. Markets reacted favourably on late Friday trading with the FTSE 100 closing up 0.8% on the day and US markets showing slight advances.
Irish tax-payers feel the pinch
The consensus agreement of a “choppy” economic recovery in the UK was put into perspective this week by the £30bn estimated cost to the Irish Tax-Payer of bailing out Anglo-Irish Bank. This works out at a staggering 33% of the country’s GDP. A similar proportion of the British economy would amount to £500bn.
And finally,
There has been a lot of press coverage this week about the accommodation at the Commonwealth Games but one aspect that has slipped under the radar is the security they have put in place. Authorities at the games have gone to the extreme length of renting 30 grey Langurs, the giant monkey native to South Asia, to protect against the threat of common monkeys and rats. They have taken up guard, accompanied by their trainers, at the headquarters of the committee as well as at the National Stadium. I hope their living facilities have been completed.